Display of Contents: Fig. 1 Diagram of Major Defects of Embankment Dam

Display of Contents: Fig. 2 Hidden Safety Dangers of Water Delivery and Release Structures by Seepage

Guidelines on Safety Inspection of Reservoir Dams, formulated by Dam Safety Management Center, the Ministry of Water Resources, China, has recently been published by China Water & Power Press.

Reservoir safety is closely related to the safety of people's lives and property. The Party Central Committee and State Council of China have attached great importance to the safety of reservoir dams, emphasized the safety first and strengthened the investigation and early-warning of hidden dangers to eliminate safety hazards in time. 

Based on the training auxiliaries of dam safety (TADS) provided by US Bureau of Reclamation, the Guidelines are formulated with conjunction of the prevailing standards of water industry and the management practices of reservoir dam engineering in China, which compose of 7 chapters and explain in detail the items and methods of safety inspection for all kinds of hydraulic structures in a reservoir dam, including the safety inspection of embankment dam engineering, concrete or masonry dam engineering, water delivery and release structures engineering, dam foundation and near-dam reservoir banks, metal structures and electromechanical equipment, the identification methods of material defects and the safety monitoring of dams.

The Guidelines are mainly for the operators and managers of all kinds of reservoir dams, which is conducive to timely discovering the hidden dangers of reservoir dams, scientifically determining the types of hidden dangers, classifying and implementing effective countermeasures, eliminating the hidden dangers in time, and ensuring the safe operation of reservoir projects.  At the same time, they will help the "three responsible persons" of flood control of small reservoirs to improve their ability to perform their duties and to solve practical problems in reservoir dam safety management, and promote all kinds of responsible persons and operation management and protection staff from "being responsible" to "being capable".